cold clothes

Leng Yi felt a slight chill, perhaps because she had taken off her outer garment. The afternoon sun shone through the snow on the windowpane into the room, and Nong Yue, facing the light, had a fair and translucent face, though her downturned eyebrows cast a small shadow.

Nongyue had high, long eyebrows, but her eyes drooped slightly at the corners, giving her an air of heroism yet a reserved nature. Lengyi didn't know much about physiognomy, but that was always the impression Nongyue gave her. When she uttered those words, Lengyi suddenly felt a sense of shrewdness and cunning in her.

"Why did you choose me? Aren't you closer to Breeze?" Leng Yi stared at her with a scrutinizing gaze.

“You don’t know, but Weifeng is Xia Hua’s person. She can’t possibly do anything to Xia Hua. These past few days, she’s already reached her limit by ignoring Xia Hua. I’m afraid she’ll be begging for mercy on her knees soon.” Nongyue said with a mocking smile, and then continued, “As for Wuxue, she’s too aloof and probably won’t pay any attention to me. The only one who can be my ally is you.”

Nongyue tentatively leaned closer to her, her eyes pleading: "Xia Hua has been targeting you ever since you arrived here, and now she even wants to kick you out of Zhuoyu Pavilion. She's gone too far, why don't we join forces to drive her out?"

"Why did you help me?" Leng Yi asked from a distance. Although Nong Yue wanted to seduce her, she was no longer afraid of such tactics and remained unmoved.

"Of course it's because I also hate Xia Hua. I've been fed up with her for a long time." Nong Yue said fiercely in a low voice, "Why is she so arrogant and domineering, forcing everyone to revolve around her? Just like Wu Xue said before, does she really think she's still a princess? Now she's just a runaway courtesan! In that case, you're much better than her. I'd rather choose you as my friend."

Leng Yi's inner thoughts: But I don't want to choose you.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Leng Yi's mind. Nong Yue's current emotional fluctuations made her realize that this was a rare opportunity, so she quickly asked, "What are your identities? If Xia Hua was originally a princess, why did she end up in Fengxiang Pavilion?"

Nongyue paused, staring warily at Lengyi for a while, and after thinking deeply, said, "I've already considered you one of us, so telling you the whole story is no problem. But it's a long story, and my memory is quite hazy..." Nongyue lowered her eyes to recall, and as if she had thought of something bad, her expression became dazed and tinged with fear.

This moment made Leng Yi realize that Nong Yue was still a child.

"If it's hard to say, then there's no need to say it." Leng Yi softened. Actually, it was easy to imagine that their childhoods had undergone earth-shattering changes, and the "beautiful, strong, and tragic" archetypes were mostly based on that formula.

Nongyue scoffed at Lengyi's words. "Are you pitying me? There's no need. We're just two people in the same boat. I think you might be even worse off than me. Heterochromatic families are very rare. You might be a descendant of some mysterious family." Nongyue stared at Lengyi's blue eyes and said softly.

At this moment, Lengyi felt that Nongyue was more mature than her peers.

Nongyue's words reminded Lengyi that she had never thought about the origins of her current body, and her memories were completely blank. It could be said that she was born into this world like a newborn baby, except that she did not drink the Meng Po soup when she was reincarnated.

"Xia Hua, Wei Feng, Wu Xue, and I were all born into wealthy and powerful families, enjoying carefree and luxurious childhoods. My original name was Gongsun Yun. My father served as Minister of Rites, and my grandfather was a Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet, highly respected and with countless disciples. Xia Hua's father was also a student of my grandfather. Xia Hua's original identity was the most noble among us. Her original name was Xie Xuan. Her father was Xie Yushu, a former prime minister who held a very high position, and her aunt was the once-favored Consort Xie. Back then, the Xie family's power was immense. Xia Hua was bestowed the title of Princess Chuyang at birth, becoming the first princess of a different surname in the Great Qi Dynasty. Ah, speaking of which, I envied Xia Hua back then, but now..."

Nongyue shook her head self-deprecatingly and continued, "Weifeng's original name was Gu Ninghui, and her father was General Gu Zifan. General Gu was once saved by Prime Minister Xie. General Gu was upright and loyal, and to repay the life-saving grace, he sent Weifeng to the Xie family. Weifeng then became Xia Hua's little follower. As for Wuxue, she was the daughter of Prince Anyu. Her great-grandfather followed Emperor Taizu in conquering the country and was granted the imperial surname and land, and inherited the title of Prince. However, by her father's generation, his entire family was exterminated, and all his glory and wealth turned to dust."

"Did you all end up in Fengxiang Brothel because of the same misfortune?" Leng Yi asked.

“That’s right, and it wasn’t just the four of us, but also Mother Hu and Yunqiu. It was all because of that incident five years ago. Our family collapsed instantly, the men were beheaded, and the women were forced into prostitution. Five years ago, when the army surrounded my house, I was still picking out jewelry in my mother’s arms when suddenly the soldiers broke into the backyard and took my mother and me away.”

"Do you want to ask why our family was destroyed?"

"To be honest, I'm a little curious," Leng Yi said honestly.

Nongyue suddenly turned her back to Lengyi and said, "Actually, I'm not really sure either."

“The imperial edict said that my father and Prime Minister Xie were plotting a rebellion, but my mother told me that it was a frame-up, that my father had not rebelled at all, and that my father was innocent, as were my mother and me, and that we would be exonerated sooner or later. She kept encouraging and comforting me, but even though she smiled every day, she couldn’t hide her increasingly thin and withered appearance. Then my mother died; she didn’t live to see the day when she was exonerated.”